=”font-family: Georgia; font-size: large;”>Young & The Restless Update
Recap written by Christine
Nick, and Faith, who was in her elf costume, chatted at Crimson Lights. They’d just gotten back from a Christmas party that Nick organized for kids at an orphanage. Nick was proud of Faith for sacrificing part of her Christmas Eve to help him hand out presents. She said it wasn’t a sacrifice. She felt good bringing a little joy into the children’s lives. She couldn’t imagine feeling rootless and not knowing where you fit in the world. She knew that Victor went through that, since he was raised in an orphanage. Nick didn’t think Victor ever got over being abandoned. It reminded Faith how lucky she was to have such an incredible family. Summer called from Milan, and when Nick looked up from the phone, Faith had disappeared. Nick couldn’t hear Summer, just Christmas music playing over the phone. He thought she was pranking him. Nikki appeared and told Nick to come with her because it was Christmas Eve, a night of love and discovery. Nick was confused. Nikki said Nick did a wonderful thing for the orphans, and now there was a gift waiting for him. She took his hand and there was a flash of light. When the light disappeared, Nick and Nikki were at the main house, and Adam and Victoria were there. Nick asked if this was an ambush. He recalled Nikki calling him to the house to get him in the same room with Victor. Victoria asked how that went. Victor said he told Nick what an excellent father he was, more present and connected with his children than Victor was with his. Adam thought that was an understatement. Victoria said that the family pitched in to get Nick a gift to show him how much they loved him. Nick said he apologized over and over for this, but he dug into Ashland’s past and that couldn’t be undone. He thought she married and opportunist, and he’d told Ashland that, and that couldn’t be undone either. Nick said he and Victoria used to be best friends, and he wished they could get that back. She asked if he didn’t think about the impact that playing detective would have on their relationship. He honestly thought she’d appreciate hearing the truth from him. She said he wanted their gratitude and for them to acknowledge he wasn’t like the rest of their family. She thought he wanted to be seen as the moral one who was so pure he wouldn’t work for a company with the name Newman. She thought she was short-changing Abby, who made some similar choices. Victoria said Victor did pretty much everything Nick wanted, and he still wasn’t satisfied. Hearing Victor say he was a great father meant the world to Nick. Victor admired Nick. Nick admired Victor too. When he was at the orphanage, Nick thought about everything Victor had to overcome to achieve this success. “If I’m a better father, it’s just because I have a different definition of success than you do,” Nick said. Victor understood that now, but when Nick was a young man, Victor didn’t understand why Nick didn’t want to follow in his footsteps or why Nick didn’t take advantage of the opportunities Victor provided for him.
Nick said he left the family business because he couldn’t take the infighting, but he didn’t find peace because he kept getting drawn back into Victor’s games and getting pitted against his siblings. Nick didn’t want to live his life this way, but he didn’t think it’d change. Adam said a year ago, no one would’ve predicted that Nick would be working with Adam to fund stable housing. Adam was learning a lot from Nick, and he was grateful. Victor said the Newman brothers were coming together, for the aptly named New Hope. Nick said they were doing the best they could, but the jury was still out. Adam’s overall point was that anything was possible. Victoria handed Nick the gift that was from all of them. He opened it and smiled. It was a book Victor used to read Nick and Victoria on Christmas Eve. Nick read a passage, it was about children rushing from the house to greet their father. Faith appeared and recalled that Nick used to read that to her and her siblings on Christmas Eve. It felt magical to her. Nick got choked up and said it used to feel the same way when Victor read it to him and Victoria. Nick wondered why his family chose this book as his gift, since Adam, who was raised in Kansas, didn’t have memories of hearing the story on Christmas Eve. Adam said if he could get past that, Nick should be able to get past the troubles he was having. Nick insisted that he was trying to. Nikki knew Nick was struggling with his purpose and place in this family. Summer called back, but she wasn’t saying anything, which scared Nick. Sharon appeared and transported Nick to Society. She cast a worried look at Noah, who was drinking at the bar. Sharon thought Nick should handle this alone, since he was used to getting his romantic hopes dashed.
Nick went to check on Noah. Noah was depressed because his ex got married. He’d thought he’d spend the rest of his life with her. Noah had tears in his eyes because his ex had confessed that she was never serious about him. Noah didn’t know how he got it so wrong. In Nick’s view, communication was key in building a relationship that would stand the test of time. Noah said Nick was the best man he knew, and he was so good with people. Noah thought Nick had more emotional intelligence than anyone, and it made Noah wonder why Nick kept screwing up his own life. “Because of me,” Phyllis said. When she appeared, Noah disappeared. Nick admitted he’d once thought he and Phyllis would make it. She said they were hot together, and they laughed a lot, but it wasn’t enough. Phyllis felt partially to blame for Nick’s confusion about his place in this world because she brought up his family and asked what he was willing to take from them. He said he wasn’t some kid trying to find himself, but he didn’t know who he was or what he wanted or what he needed to do to give his life meaning. She said it wasn’t her responsibility to get him through this crisis, it was no one’s but his. She asked what he had a need for. Phyllis disappeared.
Cassie showed up, and she told her dad that he was doing great. Nick missed her so much. She said she was alive in his heart and in the rest of the family’s. He said it wasn’t the same. She agreed, but she said life was about change. He smiled and said all his kids were philosophers now. He thought there was a thing as too much soul searching, but she said that the unexamined life was not worth living. He remembered that he used to tell Sharon that Cassie was an old soul. He said she always knew what everyone was thinking or feeling and how to make everything better. He’d never known anyone like her. She said when she scraped a knee or someone at school said something mean to her, no one could comfort her like Nick did. She knew he was searching for something and trying to fill an empty space, but she thought he was looking in the wrong direction. He had to figure out that direction on his own, but she gave him a hint – it was all around him tonight. Nick asked himself a question that he asked every day – if he was such a good father, why couldn’t he protect Cassie? Cassie said Nick knew the answer. She disappeared, and Sharon reappeared.
Sharon said that just because Nick was an amazing father, it didn’t mean he could keep his kids from getting hurt or making bad choices. Nick said Cassie was grounded that day, and he should’ve enforced it. Sharon said that was up to both of them, not just him. Nick said Cassie was a fourteen year old child, and he should’ve known she was lying about going to the movies and that she was at a party instead. Sharon asked why Nick was revisiting something that wasn’t his fault and that he couldn’t change. “Because Faith was going down the same path,” Nick said. When they got the call about Faith’s accident, he’d been so scared of losing her. He couldn’t go through that again. Sharon said Faith was fine, and Nick said it was thanks to Adam. They acknowledged that Adam did something selfless that night, and Sharon said Nick was giving Adam a chance to prove he’d changed. Sharon said that Nick gave Adam another chance because of the kind of person Nick was. She called him a caring and compassionate man and a loving and devoted father. She said no kid could ever ask for a better dad, and it was because he loved Cassie so much that he felt that loss so immensely. Sharon said that was why he couldn’t be there for her and Noah and why he had to numb that unbearable pain. She said that what happened that night changed the trajectory of his own life. She said he was caught in a current that carried him in a direction he couldn’t have envisioned.
Sharon disappeared and Faith appeared. Faith told Nick to stop being so hard on himself and take decisive action instead of letting himself be swept along in the riptide of life. She told him to find his place back to where he wanted to be and take charge of his own future. He laughed and said she and Noah were giving their old man mature advice tonight. Faith said that she hoped when she was a parent, she wasn’t as much of a sentimental dork as him. She said that sometimes people couldn’t see that it was the smallest acts of kindness that made the biggest difference. She said he founded New Hope with Nikki to bring affordable housing to Genoa City, he bought Crimson Lights with Sharon to keep it from shutting down, and he was there for Sharon and the family when she had cancer. Then he was best man at Sharon’s wedding. She said he helped Summer when she needed him the most, even though it made him crazy. Then he was there for Noah, through his zig-zag relationships and letting him manage the Underground. Adopting Cassie and loving her as his own. Fighting to raise Christian and how proud he was of that little boy. Tracking Adam down in Kansas to get him to donate a kidney for Faith. Giving Faith the help she needed. She tearfully said he was the reason she was alive. She said he showed up for everyone and now he had to show up for himself. She said he was questioning his place and purpose in life. He stated that he’d gotten some hints tonight that he was looking in the wrong direction and that the answers were all around him. She put her hand on his chest and told him to listen to his heart.
Nick woke up on the Crimson Lights patio. Unlike in the dream, he was in a Santa suit, and Faith, in her elf suit, joined him. She was glad she brought him some caffeine. She asked if he dreamed about her, and he said he actually did. He told her that the whole family was there, but he couldn’t remember much about it. She had a friend who said dreams were trying to tell you something about your life. Sharon called Faith into the coffeehouse, so she left. Nick got a call from Summer, and this time Nick could hear her. The screen switched to Summer, sitting on her couch in Milan. Nick was glad to hear her voice. She said it wouldn’t be Christmas Eve without him.
Summer said in Italy, it was all about Midnight Mass, so people stayed up late here. She, Kyle and Harrison spent the night listening to Christmas music from the balcony. Harrison had tried to stay up to see Santa delivering presents, but he fell asleep. Nick said he was wearing a Santa Claus costume now, and he’d wear it tomorrow when they video chatted while Harrison opened his presents. Nick asked if it’d be okay to spend a few days with her, Kyle and Harrison after Christmas. She loved the idea, and she said she’d get a birthday cake for Nick. They couldn’t wait to see each other. The call ended, and Nick saw Faith, Sharon and Noah smiling at him. They thought it was great that he was going on this trip. Faith was glad Nick was waiting until after Christmas, because it was going to be great that they’d all be together. They talked about traditions, and Faith said Nick would read from that old book that was practically falling apart. Nick began to recite some of the story, then Sharon, Noah and Faith joined in. Everyone laughed and hugged.
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